Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 May 1887 — Weather Errors. [ARTICLE]

Weather Errors.

Few erroneous notions are spread so readily and cling so tenaciously as those respecting the weather. In noticing common errors of this kind, Prof. Cleveland Abbe, the distinguished meteorologist, urges attention to these facts: That while the moon might well be expected to influence onr weather, scientific evidence shows that it does not; that there is no sound reason for believing that sunspots have any appreciable effect in producing storms, or other local changes; that animal instinct ranks greatly/ below human intelligence as a guide to future weather;

that the indications furnished by plAntfl are due to the hydroscopic condition of the air, as are also other “signs,” and are less delicate and reliable than the accurate instrumental tests of meteorologists ; that electricity and ozone do not produce the effects often ascribed to them; that thunderstorms do not CPol the air, but the cool inrush results, like the storm, from the rise of hot air —at leasy^JißßDj^g^fxjy^ .it has not yet been proven that the removal of forests apd the extension of railroads and telegraphs have influenced our climate; that the weather is materially the same as in old-fashioned times, scientific records disproving the faulty recollections of the oldest inhabitant; and that severe storms are no more liable to occur at the date of the equinoxes, or on certain days of the week or month, than at other times.